The party's over as Wags face red card from FA

Their shopping trips were the stuff of legend and their partying exploits tickled the public. And now it seems a nation's dismay has found an outlet - it is the wives and girlfriends who are officially to blame for England's lacklustre World Cup performance.

Reports yesterday claimed the Football Association would ban partners from attending future international tournaments. A spokesman refused to confirm whether a decision had been made, but it is understood the Wags and their champagne-swilling nights out in Baden-Baden were one of the main topics of discussion in a post-World Cup debriefing last week between Steve McClaren, the new England coach, and Brian Barwick, the FA's chief executive.

Until now, it was reckoned that the Wags had a more successful World Cup than the lads. Tales of players' wives spending £57,000 in an hour's designer shopping or dancing on table tops after running up £400 cocktail bills overshadowed the team's pedestrian outings on the pitch. Other halves stayed en masse at the luxury Brenner's Park hotel, creating a paparazzi honeypot.

Disparaged by English pundits and scorned by one Spanish newspaper as "hooligans with visas", they were nevertheless taken to the hearts of the residents and shopkeepers of Baden-Baden. Insiders point out it will be impossible to enforce a total ban, while refusing to assist partners could provoke a backlash among the team. It appears likely, however, that this World Cup will be the last where all of the Wags are gathered in the same hotel.

An FA spokesman said: "We have made no decision on it whatsoever. We haven't even qualified for the next tournament yet. We've got a new manager and we are starting our qualifying games in two months' time. Steve officially starts work on August 1 and is beginning to work on preparing the team for qualification. That's his priority, not what to do with wives and girlfriends at a tournament in two years time." England's qualification campaign for Euro 2008, which takes place in Austria and Switzerland, starts with a match against Andorra at Old Trafford on September 2.